Our Gang Follies Of 1938

Spanky, Alfalfa, Darla

Production Notes

Length: Two Reel
Producer: Hal Roach
Director: Gordon Douglas
Photography: Art Lloyd
Editor: William Ziegler
Titles: None
Writer: Unrevealed
Released: December 18, 1937
Studio: M-G-M

Main Cast

• Carl Switzer
• Darla Jean Hood
• Eugene Lee
• George McFarland
• William Thomas Jr.

Supporting Cast

• Ada Lynn
• Annabella Logan - sings "Loch Lomond"
• Betsy Gay
• Bill Cody
• Bill Mindy
• Bobs Watson
• Charles Flickinger
• Cordell (Bobbie) Hickman
• Darwood Kaye
• David Freeman
• Dickie Jones
• Doodles Weaver - Piano Player
• Frances Bowling
• Georgia Jean LaRue - sings "That Foolish Feeling" and "There's No Two Ways About It"
• Gino Corrado - Opera Singer
• Gloria Brown
• Gloria Hurst
• Harold Switzer
• Henry Brandon - Barnaby the Impresario
• Henry Lee
• Jimmy Sommerville
• Joe "Corky" Geil
• John Collum
• Josephine Roberts
• Kenneth Wilson
• Patsy Currier
• Patsy Mae Dittemore
• Philip Hurlic
• Philip MacMahon - sings "That Foolish Feeling" and "There's No Two Ways About It"
• Rae-Nell Laskey
• Raymond Powell
• Robert Winckler
• Tommy Braunger
• Tommy McFarland
• Wilma Cox - Miss Jones the Stenographer
• Additional cast members for this short are named in the Club Spanky profile

The Short

Plot: Spanky is puttng on another big stage musical show in his cellar where his audience slips in by coal chute. The show seems built around Alfalfa as the main talent as a "King of Crooners," but his ego swells a bit and he decides to leave Spanky to try his future in opera. Spanky drops the curtain on Alfalfa's change of singing which leaves the so-called "King of Crooners" storming out to pursue his future with Porky in tow in the city. At the opera house, Alfalfa is so full of himself that he doesn't realize he has been insulted nor that he has insulted the real talent. The adults humor him along with a meaningless contract, but he takes it seriously, taking it back to flaunt in front of Spanky. As Alfalfa drifts to sleep of his success, he enters a surreal world where it's twenty years later and everyone is still kids. When his debut turns out to be a bust, Barnaby the Impresario sends him out into the street to sing for his supper at the curb. Spanky comes along,however, very successful from his own kiddie nightclub. He, Darla and Buckwheat are all making "hundreds and thousands of dollars." Porky is pulled into an act with Darla singing "The Love Bug Will Get You If You Don't Watch Out." Lured back to his roots, Alfalfa wants to croon again, but Barnaby stops him as the crowd calls his name. The calls are actually from the cellar audience and Alfalfa, finished with opera forever, agrees to croon.
Quotes:
Notes/Trivia:

• Buckwheat imitates Cab Calloway in the dream sequence, as Spanky introduces him as "Cab Buckwheat."
  
• The ice cream on the set was actually mashed potatoes; real ice cream would have melted under the studio lights.
  
• Henry Brandon (Barnaby) also played Barnaby in "March of the Wooden Soldiers," a Hal Roach feature film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The film also stars a number of former Rascals. The cave sets were used in Mama's Little Pirate and one of the "bogey-men" costumes appears in Hide And Shriek.
  
• Annabella Logan is the neice of Ella Logan; as an adult, she would appear years later in "Superman 3" which also starrred Jackie Cooper (actor), another former Little Rascal.
  
• Ada Lynn was originally planned to sing the song "Your Broadway and Mine" during the Club Spanky sequence. Her scene was deleted from the final film. This particular song was later sung by Darla in Aladdin's Lantern.
  
• Alfalfa was originally meant to sing "Sextet From Lucia" instead of "The Barber of Seville."
• This is the fifth musical episode in the series after Our Gang Follies Of 1936, The Pinch Singer, Arbor Day and Reunion In Rhythm.
• This is the first appearance of Big Shot Jones, he'll make his second and finale appearance in Tale Of A Dog.

Sequence

• Previous Short: Mail And Female
• Next Short: Canned Fishing

---